The effect of sunlight on poly finishes...

skunkwerx

December 2014 I was walking past the local branch of Pmt, when my eye caught an Epiphone Les Paul in the window.
It was like a purple burst, which I’d never seen before. Had a flame maple AAA grade veneer and looked interesting. 

Took a picture of it: 
https://i.imgur.com/A2zjuCM.jpg

Lined up next to several other Epi plus top pro’s. 

Figured I’d see if it was still there later in the month, and buy it. 

So later that day I looked it up on the website and couldnt find it anywhere. In fact the whole of google couldnt give me a purple Les Paul plus top pro. 

Curious, I went back to the store and enquired about it. 

At first they were confused by my request to see the purpley epiphone.. 

The bloke got it out the window and upon peeling off the stickers around the knobs, and on the pickups, it was a right mess.

The stickers from the knobs had left a burnt in black ring and the pickups had wax all over them. 

Hilariously the bloke said
‘dunno whats gone on with this’
 ‘we’ll sort you out a discount if you want it’.. 

I was like, man I like the colour its gone but how freakin long has that been sitting in the winter sun! 
I was more worried that the neck had warped or something. 

So he got the exact same model out but brand new from the back, and I bought it. A Trans Blue les paul. 

This is what it was supposed to look like: 
https://i.imgur.com/u5qQRsm.jpg

Turns out the window model was a Trans Blue plus top pro too, but just having sat there in the window, in the sun, it had faded, and its pickup potting melted.. 

Garthy

I remember in the mid 90s a guitar shop near me had an enormous south facing window- massive thing that would be typical of an estate agents. The chap used to hang guitars in the window and one spring day he hung a Strat type with an American flag airbrushed onto it, slap bang in the middle of the window. I watched it fade every day for about 4 months until eventually the guitar was completely yellow.

WezV

Same thing happens to a lot of Blues... PRS often succumb to it

Fuengi

I've had my 2009 Olympic White Mexi Strat in sat by my east facing patio doors for a couple of months, it's really helped the maple neck to go a lovely honey colour.

The white poly has gone a little more off white. 

I need to keep my nitro finished blue guitar out of the sun as it fades really quickly. 

ICBM

WezV said:

Same thing happens to a lot of Blues... PRS often succumb to it

I had a pink PRS Custom that had started out purple - made in mid 1997, I bought it in very early 2001, and in only three years the blue dye in it faded away almost completely leaving only the pink. I only actually realised it had once been purple when I took the rotary switch knob off to change it for a toggle. Apparently this era of PRS purple finishes were notorious for it.

Collings

ICBM said:

WezV said:

Same thing happens to a lot of Blues... PRS often succumb to it

I had a pink PRS Custom that had started out purple - made in mid 1997, I bought it in very early 2001, and in only three years the blue dye in it faded away almost completely leaving only the pink. I only actually realised it had once been purple when I took the rotary switch knob off to change it for a toggle. Apparently this era of PRS purple finishes were notorious for it.

I know that the PRS blue finishes are very prone to fading if left out in the light.

I had a PRS that originally started out as a deep blue but ended up looking charcoal

There are a lot of people that really like the PRS finishes that have faded.

 

crunchman

Collings said:

ICBM said:

WezV said:

Same thing happens to a lot of Blues... PRS often succumb to it

I had a pink PRS Custom that had started out purple - made in mid 1997, I bought it in very early 2001, and in only three years the blue dye in it faded away almost completely leaving only the pink. I only actually realised it had once been purple when I took the rotary switch knob off to change it for a toggle. Apparently this era of PRS purple finishes were notorious for it.

I know that the PRS blue finishes are very prone to fading if left out in the light.

I had a PRS that originally started out as a deep blue but ended up looking charcoal

There are a lot of people that really like the PRS finishes that have faded.

 

Probably why "Faded Whale Blue" is an option now on some models.  Blue wouldn't be my first choice, but I'd rather have full on Whale Blue than the faded version.

57Deluxe

Non light fast PIGMENTS in ALL finishes is Dark Blue and Carmine (Maroon) Red.

From these comes the derivations and lighter shades. Look at any 10-12 year old 'Guards' Red car to see the 'chalking' effect.

Voxman

I liked the purple!

Philly_Q

Perhaps PMT should consider removing stickers - and maybe the scratchplates and switch rings too - before they leave their LPs in the window for a few months.

stimpsonslostson

Fuengi said:

I've had my 2009 Olympic White Mexi Strat in sat by my east facing patio doors for a couple of months, it's really helped the maple neck to go a lovely honey colour.

The white poly has gone a little more off white. 

I need to keep my nitro finished blue guitar out of the sun as it fades really quickly. 

I did the same to my anemic Faith Acoustic, it's give from white to a lovely light honey colour. 

Nick

That particular PMT branch should rotate their displays a tad more frequently ;-)

Jack_

Maybe they should just make their front of store more akin to an 80s sex shop.

skunkwerx

Voxman said:

I liked the purple!

I did too! I was a bit disappointed to find out it wasnt its actual colour. 

Funkfingers

.

robgilmo

Jack_ said:

Maybe they should just make their front of store more akin to an 80s sex shop.

Thats all we need, new wave romantic sexy types wondering around guitar shops looking for big fat didlos or crisp bags with small furry animals inside them.

rlw

I'm leaving my LP Classic in the sun to try and fade it a bit...................

Funkfingers

skunkwerx said:

having sat there in the window, in the sun ... its pickup potting melted. 

If your guitar came with typical Epiphone Waxbuckers, the melting may have brought about some improvement.

JerkMoans

robgilmo said:

Jack_ said:

Maybe they should just make their front of store more akin to an 80s sex shop.

Thats all we need, new wave romantic sexy types wondering around guitar shops looking for big fat didlos or crisp bags with small furry animals inside them.

Is it Saturday, already?  

Gagaryn

I remember when I was young in the olden days ;-) that shops used to have yellow film in the windows to minimise stuff like that. Was up in Shetland recently and saw a couple of shops that still do.